Core B: Outcomes Core (Core B: Minami) The Outcomes Core has 4 objectives 1) To provide surgical models of myocardial infarction to serve as a basis for studying the effects of stem-cell therapy in myocardial infarct repair. 2) To provide in-vivo physiology endpoint measurements using echocardiography, MRI, and microspheres to determine functional improvement post-engraftment 3) To provide basic tissue preparation and sectioning to allow each project to study endpoints at the fissue level. 4) To develop a canine model of myocardial infarction and grafting techniques to allow us to study the effects of embryonic-stem cell derived cardiomyocytes and mesenchymal stem cells in large animal models so that we can be one step closer to bringing this therapy to the clinical setting.

Public Health Relevance

The long term goal of this Core is to assist investigators in this project to study how stem cells and embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes improve cardiac function so that eventually, these cells can be potentially used as treatment for patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy.